


there is no self discovery without pain and loss (tears unveil hidden parts of your soul)

by whichlights



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Cuddling & Snuggling, Galra Keith (Voltron), How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Latin, M/M, Mild Blood, Pain, descriptions of pain get mildly graphic, except its not spanish because i dont speak spanish or trust google translate, keith and shiro are practically siblings, might come back to this later, not how genetics work, voltron spoilers beware of spoilers!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 15:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9447347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichlights/pseuds/whichlights
Summary: Keith's door must have been locked for hours when Hunk finally checked on him.Upon demanding entry, he saw blood dripping down Keith's chin.





	

**Author's Note:**

> [title credit- anita krizzan](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7326113-there-is-no-self-discovery-without-pain-and-loss-tears-unveil)
> 
>  
> 
> i love starting what are supposed to be super long oneshots and needing to finish them the day before they're deleted, making them ten times shorter than they were meant to be

Keith didn't like being Galra. 

He didn't like looking at his wrists, where he could see blue veins, and know the same blood in those veins was the same blood that ran through the Galra. The Galra, and it was their fault all their fault, and they destroyed Altea, and they took Shiro, and now they really _took_ Shiro because he's _gone._

Keith didn't like being Galra in the slightest.

And waking up with a strange toothache was not helping his anger at the universe for this cruel joke.  

Grumbling, he rubbed his jaw as he walked out to breakfast with the rest of the team. Maybe Coran had a home remedy or something. Then again, how 'home' could an Altean remedy get? He missed the desert. 

Lance hopped out of his room, chipper as usual. "Top of the morning to ya." Lance yawned. Keith almost responded, so as not to be completely rude, but opening his mouth brought a flare of pain to his teeth. He yelped and shut his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Lance looked at him. 

Keith rubbed his jaw, hoping it got the idea across.

"Toothache? Gargle salt water. Won't help long term, but it would clean out some bacteria if that's the cause." Lance suggested. Keith shot him a grateful look. 

He took Lance's advice, but as the day progressed, he couldn't focus on anything other than the growing tooth pain. It sounded pathetic, but it really did hurt. It felt like his entire mouth was being rearranged. His mouth felt wet, so when he spat out blood, he decided to call it a day. 

He went back to his room, mostly because he didn't know where else he could hang out, and this was too minor for a healing pod. He tentatively touched the area of pain. He felt something sharp, and when he pulled his hand away, he'd cut his finger. 

 _What the-_? He thought, and went to grab his knife. The reflection of it might help him figure out what was wrong. He pulled up his lip to look at the tooth. 

His canines seemed... sharper. And bigger.

_Like Galra fangs._

* * *

"Has anyone seen Keith since he left?" Hunk asked. 

"He probably just needs time to mourn Shiro." Coran pointed out as he polished the scaltrite stones. "You done fixing up the power converter?"

"Yup." Hunk tapped it with his Altean screwdriver thing. "And are you sure? Lance said he had a really bad tooth ache. Like, couldn't speak it hurt so much bad."

"Well, that is concerning." Coran mused. "Maybe you should go check on him. We're all done here anyway."

Hunk nodded. "See you."

Hunk went to Keith's room. "Hey, buddy?" He wiggled the door knob. It wouldn't budge.

Keith's door must have been locked for hours when Hunk finally checked on him.

"Keith? Come on buddy, let me in." 

"No." Someone inside groaned, and Hunk can here a slight gasp of pain.

"I can and I will hack into this door." Hunk threatened.

It clicked open.

Upon demanding entry, he saw blood dripping down Keith's chin.

"Holy hell." Hunk took a step back. "Are you okay?"

Keith shook his head. "No." He mumbled. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, then winced. "Get Kolivian, and some kind of alien pain killers. Please."

"What happened?"

Keith grinned, and his teeth weren't human. Instead of small canines that were normal for a person, he had sharp fangs covered in blood. His expression was pained as he grinned. "Please."

* * *

Kolivian made thoughtful hums as he looked at Keith's teeth. "Human mouths weren't made to fit Galra teeth, were they?"

"No." Keith snapped. "Make them go away." 

"I don't think that's within my powers." Kolivian smiled sadly. "The swelling in your gums seems to already be going down. Once you adjust to them, I'm sure you'll be fine."

" _Fine_? I have  _fangs_!" Keith yelled. "I don't want them!"

"Well, you have them, and they might be helpful in a scrap." 

Keith sat down, crossed his arms and mumbled something. Kolivian must not have heard him, but he did say, "Well, you're talking, so the pain must be going down."

"Still hurts like hell." Keith said. "But this is it, right? I don't need any more Galra features."

"Not sure."

"Not  _sure_?" Keith yowled.

Kolivian shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what's happening any more than you do. It might be that as your body goes through it's human stages of development, something triggered your Galra genetics to start manifesting physically."

Keith wilted against the couch. "I don't want this." He whispered.

"Sorry, kiddo."

"Don't call me that." Keith snapped.  _Shiro called me that and he's gone because of the Galra and I'm a Galra and he could be lost forever and I'm actually turning into a Galra._

_God, I hate the universe._

"Although I will admit, you seem to be going backwards in terms of Galra development. Usually the ears grow first, then claws, then teeth."

Keith groaned. "Denied."

"You can't just deny-"

" _Denied."_

* * *

He woke up the next day feeling like his head was splitting open. Keith grabbed a pillow, held it up to his face, and screamed his voice raw because it was the only way he could deal with it because every time he went to get up the sides of his head hurt. His ears were ringing, and he couldn't really hear anything. It was all a blur. Ow. Ow.  _Ow._

Eventually a sound broke through the pain and the ringing- a knock. "Keith?" A muffled voice called, and even though his head hurt, Keith could distinguish it was Lance. "You okay?"

"No!" Keith yelled, clawing at his hair. His hands brushed up against something fluffy. He shoved his face into the pillow more, and awkwardly grabbed the bottle of the alien pain killers he'd been given, gulping them down. Eventually, the buzzing in his ears died down, and his headache faded. 

There was no noise at the door anymore, and Keith realized Lance had probably left. It made sense, but it hurt, somehow. 

Keith ignored that, and dragged himself up to go look in the mirror and see what horrible thing was happening now. He analyzed his teeth- the swelling had gone down, and the sharp white fangs looked semi adjusted. Keith sighed and poked one of them. No pain. Was that good or bad? Maybe it just meant whatever hell substance Coran had shoved down his throat and called a pain killer was working. 

He narrowed his eyes. Something about them looked different, but he couldn't tell what. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. By doing this, he displaced some of his hair, showing his ears that... didn't look like his ears. These ears were more like miniature cat ears, with black-purple fluff.

Keith wasn't proud of his reaction.

He punched the mirror. 

"Keith!" A voice outside the door yelled. It was Lance. _He didn't leave? He came back?_ "I brought Kolivian! What happened?"

"Nothing, just broke my mirror." Keith said, shaking out his hand. "Come on in."

Lance barreled in the second he heard that, and surprised Keith with a hug. "You alright?" He breathed.

"Y-yah." Keith stuttered, smiling. Kolivian raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "So what's the problem?"

"You were screaming bloody murder." Lance added, stepping away, slightly red.

Keith brushed back his hair. "Guess these happened." He sighed. "Those alien painkillers are some strong stuff. I don't feel anything now."

"That's Galra normal." Kolivian said. "After registering pain, the body sends strong signals to the brain to block it out. Makes more us efficient fighters and hunters."

Keith exhaled, determined not to have a screaming breakdown right then and there. "Of course." Was all he said.

 _A fighter. A hunter. I wasn't made to be nice, was I? Alright then. I'll tear town anyone who hurts my friends with my claws and teeth._ Keith thought bitterly. 

The thought didn't make him feel better.

* * *

Keith's ears grew from pointy things with fluff on them to full on cat-Galra ears. His nails had always grown fast and slightly sharp, so he guessed that had just always been a thing. His fangs finally settled in.

He woke up in the middle of the night (nightmare- Lance was dead, Shiro was dead, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran, everyone was dead) and in the darkness he noticed faint purple spots along his arms. 

Instead of feeling angry or cheated anymore, he just felt tired. He sighed, got up, and started to go up to the training deck.

Lance was sitting out in the hallway. "Oh- hey. What are you doing up?"

"Nothing." Keith instinctively shoved his arms behind his back, but Lance frowned anyways. "You got a little bit of something purple on your face."

"My..." Keith buried his face in his hands. "I hate this." Keith looked at him. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep." Lance replied with a shrug.

"Me either." This was awkward. Keith was making this awkward. 

Lance stood up. "Come on, it's late."

"What?"

"You won't say it, so I have to. Let's just go to sleep. Preferably in the same room? I kinda don't want to be alone right now."

 _Neither do I_. "I kick. What if overnight I develop weird Galra feet strength and hurt you? I have claws and fangs and-"

"And I've owned like five cats in my life, so I've built up an immunity to scratches." Lance said. "But if that's a no I understand-"

"No. It's not a no, I mean." Keith tripped over his words. "I just don't want to hurt you?"

"It'll be fine, meum caelum." Lance laughed. 

"Wait, what?" 

"Ah, nothing. Nevermind that." Lance waved it off. 

They fell asleep together, and Keith woke up a little later, Lance's face snuggled up against his shoulder. 

Keith went back to sleep, deciding this was fine, and could stay a little longer. 

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](witchlightsands.tumblr.com)
> 
> meum caelum- my sky


End file.
